Page 78 of From Best Friend to Bride
“I don’t know, dear. Do you think Maggie would give it a try?”
Well, the woman had spent the last six months campaigning for a house cow, so yes.
“I’m not sure anyone in the village could take the two of you hurtling through the park while miniature fluffy cows pull your wheelchair along,” I replied carefully, putting the bookmark between the pages and setting my book down. “Granny probably isn’t insured for that, either.”
“Shame.” She tilted her head to the side. “What about the sled dogs, then? Doesn’t Millie Barker have three huskies?”
“Yes, but they aren’t exactly trained to pull an eighty-something-year-old woman around in her wheelchair. Much less with another similarly aged woman hanging off the back of it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, dear. Maggie wouldn’t be hanging off the back of my chair. She’d be sitting in my lap.”
Right.
Of course.
How foolish of me.
“Perhaps we could just rent you a horse and carriage,” I suggested. “Much safer.”
“Oh, it is my birthday next month.” She tilted her head to the side as she turned to look at me. “Do you think I’ll see it?”
I pressed my lips together.
That was her favourite question lately.
Would she make her birthday? What about Lucy’s baby being born?
That was all she truly wanted—to see her great-granddaughter enter this world before she died.
Well, it was all she wanted now I’d married myself off to my best friend.
Then again, yesterday’s ‘dying wish’ had been to have four scoops of ice-cream instead of her usual two, so perhaps she was milking it a little bit.
She’d gotten the four scoops.
She couldn’t eat it all, mind, but she’d gotten it. Personally, I thought giving in to her little whims was a very slippery slope. First it was extra scoops of ice-cream, now it was mini cows and huskies pulling her wheelchair through town in a joyride.
“Of course you’ll see your birthday, Nana. You’re not going anywhere just yet. Besides, it’d be rude to ditch us while we’re planning you a party,” I replied.
“Hmm. You’re right. I do like parties.” She pursed her lips and shot me a sly gaze. “Maybe I’ll try to hang on until you have a child, dear.”
“Let’s not go that far.”
Nana laughed, tossing her head back. I smiled woefully—she was getting weaker by the day, and the weight loss was becoming increasingly apparent. Yet she was still herself.
Still the bright, bubbly, chaotic character she’d always been.
For that, at least, I was grateful.
“What are we laughing about?” Fred asked, strolling towards us.
“Hi,” I said. “Nana wants a cow. Failing that, a joyride with huskies and Granny on her lap.”
He kissed me casually on the top of the head. “I’m sorry I asked.”
Nana cackled. “Freddie, be a dear and let the cows pull my wheelchair through the village, would you?”
“I’m gonna have to put my foot down on that one, Nana. They’re not that well trained.” He kissed her cheek and knelt in front of her. “How are you feeling today?”
